The Genius Claimed By Schizophrenia: Memories Of My Sister

Lisa was as brilliant as she was beautiful. Even as a small child her insight and intuition astounded friends and family alike. Her maturity and intelligence excelled long before the adolescence which brought about the physiological changes which seem to have acted as a catalyst in the onset of the severest form of schizophrenia. Previous to the chemical carnage of unmatched physiological components in her brain, namely the neurotransmitter dopamine and its receptors, she was ahead of her years, her time and certainly ahead of me.

As early as age seven her concentration and comprehension levels amazed me. Although only ten myself and without descriptive vocabulary, I could see this clearly. She would often be charged with explaining to me plot twists in movies we would watch together as kids. And it would be she, the little girl, who would have to comfort me, her older brother, concerning the unreality of scary monster movies.

Lisa and I had an almost symbiotic psychic connection, which transcended our biological kinship. We were spirit-kin, siblings in eternity and this we remain, only temporarily disconnected on the sensory level. We would often say, with perfect simultaneous spontaneity, exactly, word for word, what the other was saying in reaction to a given thing.

Also, whole concepts and emotions were conveyed with a single glance. Sure, we also bickered and carried on as siblings do, but memories of things like the three of us on weekends at our dad’s place in the country, stacked on a snow sled racing down a hill, careening toward a snow bank, the impact of which would result in three snow angels being made to the sound of our uncontrollable laughter, far outweigh those of who spilled the milk or who broke the vase (by the way, it was me mom!).

By the age of only thirteen, she had begun a modeling career despite her lack of the height so sought after in that business; such was the power of her beauty. This she initiated and carried out of her own accord amidst ongoing discussion and concerned warnings from both loving parents about any heartache she may have been setting herself up for. It did not affect her grades in school. In fact, as she entered her teens her grades only ever improved, this in fact also to the point of concern. I’ll explain and as I do I hope I can offer some early warning signs to be ever vigilant for as you observe the life of your young adult family member or friend.

She persevered in her modeling pursuits despite repeated disappointments until she received an offer to appear on the cover of a hair dye product. She gave me of her complimentary boxes, which featured her precious face and unmatched hair, on which she wrote: “Chris, here’s a copy of the realization of a dream. Something you and I will share over and over again.” I was absolutely inspired by my little sister. Absolutely inspired. Among other lessons she taught me about the power of belief and perseverance.

Over the next few years changes would begin to take place in Lisa that would frighten us to the level of panic; among them academic over-achievement. By the age of fifteen, as a sophomore in high school, a time when most kids are much more concerned with dating than with homework, she voluntarily restricted her social life to near non-existence. Her free time was wholly occupied locked in her room immersed in the study of law and physics. Having grown bored with constantly winning mock trials held at her school, she began to wonder whether science was more to her liking than law. Her intelligence was indeed always a point of pride with all of us. However, when she began, on the rare occasion of her emerging from her studious inner sanctum to casually begin to describe in terms I still can’t understand, the principles of Einstein’s General and Special Relativity, along with, in intermittent bursts between sips of soda, as if discussing the weather, a casual explanation of why space and time bend. I began to say “whoa, is there such thing as too much of a good thing?”

• We all indeed began to worry increasingly as uncommon characteristics and behavior gave way to the unusual and from the unusual to the horrifying.
• All endeavors or lifestyle changes became a matter of extremes.
• She began to enter a phase of personal neo-sixties, retro-flowerchild exploration into a period she felt she resonated with during a time when kids her age were immersed in the pop culture of the early eighties.
• Again, there may be a point of pride in seeing your little sister more into Stephen Stills than Boy George, but ultra extremes are frightening and I urge vigilance against them in any loved one’s behavior.

As the reader may well be aware, the nineteen sixties were a time of experimentation with consciousness expanding, hallucinogenic drugs. In keeping with the established pattern of pushing the envelope, Lisa of course participated in this activity. We do not know to what extent this may have contributed to the onset of schizophrenia, as the pattern had been established as early as puberty. Nor do we know whether LSD was involved or only a then prevalent street derivative called mescaline. Both could indeed have acted as catalysts but it is also possible that neither did. The research in these regards is as yet inconclusive. Of course many schizophrenics have never taken hallucinogenic drugs and many people who show no signs of mental illness have. Regardless, I highly recommend qualified interventions if any over the top excessive lifestyle is observed.

Whereas once we had been concerned over Lisa’s highly sophisticated talk of science, we now were horrified over her ever increasingly bizarre manner of speaking, dress and behavior. She began to show one of the primary symptoms of schizophrenia, a loss of normal cognitive faculties, a lack of contact with reality. Not only these, but her beautiful face by the age of sixteen had become marred by severe and uncontrollable acne, almost certainly as a result of the medications prescribed for her now worsening disease. Things began to come to a head. We knew we had to do something. We were just not sure what. Phenomena which I only recently have come to be familiar with began to manifest in Lisa, namely aural and visual hallucinations; staples of severe psychosis associated with schizophrenia. The panic the family was now experiencing had to be translated to drastic action immediately, especially upon my relating to my mom the following incident which will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Lisa came into my room and sat on my bed for a chat. It had become increasingly uncomfortable to talk with Lisa over the previous months because it had become apparent that there was something very wrong, as her conversations lacked cohesion. Well, the camel’s back was about to give in a big way. My beautiful sister proceeded to explain to me that she was indeed the second coming of Christ. This, I would come to learn is another staple of schizophrenia; delusions of grandeur of a religious nature. My stomach trembled in waves of nervous spasms as I related this to my mother because both mom and I knew, even as the words were leaving my mouth, that institutionalizing Lisa could be avoided no longer.

That was 1985. Since then, ground-breaking milestones have been achieved with antipsychotic medications. Early tertiary intervention coupled with proper diagnosis and treatment can help victims of schizophrenia to live normal lives. This my family urges, because Lisa’s life ended before those medications became available.

Although the State institutions we were forced to place Lisa in provided crude antipsychotic medications in the 1980s like lithium, at least, for the most part, her hallucinations were not as pervasive as before treatments began. However, supervision in these institutions is a disgraceful shame. It is horrifying how easily Lisa was able to separate from her supervision during an outing on October 26, 1987. The abhorrent lack of regard for the mentally ill in this country as is demonstrated so disgustingly by the low level of care these nightmarish carryovers from the days of the sanitariums of the 19th century provide is despicable.

Witnesses at a commuter railroad station stated that Lisa placed herself before an oncoming train. No laughter resulted from this impact. But there was indeed an angel added among the dearly departed, carving her image into the pure light perfection of eternity.

The Genius Claimed By Schizophrenia: Memories Of My Sister 2013-05-19T14:36:00-07:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: Rizal